Mary Altaffer/AP
- Steve Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' is officially a zombie charity — its last director quit Tuesday.
- The scam non-profit has one last victim: its defense lawyer, who said he hasn't been getting paid.
- The lawyer told a Manhattan judge he can't advise and defend a company with no 'human' client.
Steve Bannon's "We Build The Wall" charity, notorious for ripping off millions of dollars from donors in 2018, apparently has one last victim — its own defense lawyer.
The lawyer, Justin S. Weddle, revealed Tuesday that the charity has not been paying him, and that its very last officer had earlier that day handed in their resignation.
That leaves Weddle in an uncomfortable position as an attorney, he complained to a Manhattan judge Tuesday, during an otherwise routine court appearance in the latest iteration of the Bannon donor-scam case.
He's not getting paid, Weddle complained in court, as Bannon, also charged in the case, sat nearby at the defense table, with a new legal team in tow.
He also has no prospect of getting paid, Weddle told the judge. And his "client" is now a zombie non-profit that exists only theoretically, on paper, and therefore cannot be advised or consulted with.
"The only human beings associated with 'We Build The Wall' have all resigned," Weddle told New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the felony money laundering and conspiracy case.
But when Weddle asked to please be allowed to quit the case — arguing that he has "a significant outstanding bill" for his legal services — the judge said not yet.
When a human defendant vanishes, a judge can try them in absentia and transfer all decision-making authority to the attorney, but, "here we don't even have a physical defendant," the judge noted.
"If you withdraw, the defendant would disappear from the defense table," the judge added.
"That's our understanding," Weddle agreed.
"I'm hearing this for the first time right now," the judge said, appearing stumped. "I have not had the opportunity to research this and I need that time."
Weddle must for now keep his zombie client — the one that's not paying him — at least for another two weeks, the judge said, while he and prosecutors figure out what their positions on the matter are.
The case, in which Bannon and "We Build The Wall" are both charged with money laundering, conspiracy, and fraud for allegedly defrauding donors out of more than $15 million through a sham charity.
Despite having no staff, WeBuildTheWall, Inc. remains an active not-for-profit registered in Florida.
Bannon faces anywhere from zero jail time up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge.
"I ain't going to prison," Bannon told reporters when asked about the charity-scam case, and about a 4-month jail term he faces in his July contempt-of-Congress conviction for defying a House January 6 committee hearing subpoena; the sentence has been stayed pending Bannon's appeal of his conviction.
Manhattan prosecutors d0 not allege that Bannon pocketed any of the money siphoned from the charity.
Instead, he is accused of setting up shell companies that funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the charity's president, veteran Brian Kolfage.
Kolfage and two other participants in the scheme have pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Bannon was first charged with defrauding donors through the charity by federal prosecutors, in August 2020.
Five months after pleading not guilty in that case he received a last-minute pardon by a departing President Donald Trump, for whose first seven months in office Bannon had served as a top advisor.